Only about 28 percent of the registered voters turned out for the Nov. 5 election in Hamilton County. Downtown's James Nesbitt says that may not be such a bad thing.

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James Nesbitt
Guest columist

When one reads articles reporting turnout as low as Cincinnati's in this last election ("Turnout drops for 3rd straight year," Nov. 6), the most common reaction is to lament the lack of voter participation.

Through well-saturated marketing campaigns like Rock the Vote, there has developed a popular belief that voting is inherently good and therefore low voter turnout is bad.

But few satisfactory justifications for this position are ever given. ...